popular thinking

AS HARRISON FORD TURNS

One Monday, you're sloshing your way through live TV before a worldwide audience at the Golden Globes (thanks, Whatevs, for the play-by-play screengrabs). The next Monday, you find yourself sitting before an audience of about 600 in a downtown Boston cineplex, answering audience questions so numbing they make Inside the Actor's Studio seem watchable. A kid sitting behind me in the press row (representing a college paper which may or may not rhyme with "Tufts") actually had the nerve to ask Harrison Ford if he cares about what critics write about him, and then when Mr. Ford said yes, the kid replies with a plaintive, "Really?" Egads. Other mind-blowing queries included requests to shake his hand, get a picture with him, have him jump out of a cake, have him sing "Happy Birthday" and have him hire some punk as an intern on the still-not-yet-in-production fourth Indiana Jones film. Yes, to answer the more pertinent question, Ford did say that it's his most-asked question and that the answer is yes, he thinks there will be another Indy coming your way in the near future. When a girl with a black Mohawk asked him why he doesn't play bad guys, Ford quickly retorted with, "I guess you didn't see What Lies Beneath." Tis true: Anyone who cheats on Michelle Pfeiffer is a bad guy. I couldn't get close enough tonight for a good camera-phone shot (trust me, I tried). But I've got other quotes and a photo op tomorrow, so, as they say, stay tuned.

Oh, right. Why is Harrison Ford in Boston, anyhow? He is here to promote Firewall. The trailers make it look like Air Force One, except Ford is a bank computer security guy instead of the president. The truth is closer to The Fugitive. Ford plays an unlikely hero, yes, and you can bet your $10 on whether he prevails or not. But as in his portrayal of Dr. Richard Kimble, this is more one of those movies in which Ford is an innocent guy who gets backed into a corner and has to figure his way out of it, rather than a simple kick-ass Commander in Chief who isn't about to let any terrorists tell him what to do. But really, Sean, what did you think of the movie? It's good. Harrison Ford knows how to play this type of character and play it well, although you might wonder how many 63-year-old guys are ultra-techies. Paul Bettany is adequately creepy as the baddy bad man. The ending is cliche Hollywood.